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The NFL schedule has officially been released! While I didn’t watch the ESPN three hour special with the annoying Merrill Hoge predicting the outcome of each game for every team; I did check it out on the web.

I have to say I was fairly pleased, namely with the fact that the Patriots actually have to come to Baltimore for the first time since 2007, which was also the last time we had a home Monday night game.

Opening the season on Monday night is an honor that I was shocked the Ravens received, but it is well deserved. I know M&T will be rocking, even though last year’s opener against the Steelers will be hard to top.

Aside from the Pats, some high profile teams get to come to Ray Ray territory this season, America’s team the Cowboys, along with the Manning led Giants and Broncos back to back; that is if Peyton makes it to week 15. Another highlight will be when the purple brigade gets to invade Landover, MD in a battle of the beltways game that actually matters.

For the remainder of the week everyone will be analyzing the schedules and like every other year a lot of it will wind up being wrong. While yes we can try to predict wins and losses until we are blue in the face all fans know we can’t put too much into it.

All we have to go by is how a team performed last season, but remember that there isn’t a single 53 man roster that is exactly the same as last year. In other words no team will perform exactly the same as last year. You never know which team will be ravaged by injuries; there’s always one. And some teams could have a few diamonds in the rough that end up having break-out seasons to help lead their team to victory.

Last April, who would’ve marked the 49ers as the team to go to the NFC Championship game after only winning six games in 2010? And who would’ve said that Tebow would lead the Broncos to victory over the Steelers in the playoffs?

I know that none of us circled the Jaguars, Seahawks and Titans as definite losses for the Ravens in 2011. And I’m sure nobody thought that we would have to pull out a record setting second half comeback in order to beat the Cardinals at home.

While I’m super excited for the new season to get here I just can’t put too much stock into all the “expert” schedule commentary I will hear this week no matter how good or bad they are saying our Ravens are going to be.